The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate our call to a change in our outer actions and inner conviction.
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| A new direction |
The reading from the First Book of Samuel is a rebuke of Saul who has rejected the word of the Lord.
* [15:22] Samuel’s reprimand echoes that of the prophets. Cultic practice is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless accompanied by an attentiveness to God’s will.1
Hating discipline and casting away the words of the Lord are presented in Psalm 50 that states the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise.
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20).2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus addresses the question about fasting.
* [2:19] Can the wedding guests fast?: the bridal metaphor expresses a new relationship of love between God and his people in the person and mission of Jesus to his disciples. It is the inauguration of the new and joyful messianic time of fulfillment and the passing of the old. Any attempt at assimilating the Pharisaic practice of fasting, or of extending the preparatory discipline of John’s disciples beyond the arrival of the bridegroom, would be as futile as sewing a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak or pouring new wine into old wineskins with the resulting destruction of both cloth and wine (Mk 2:21–22). Fasting is rendered superfluous during the earthly ministry of Jesus; cf. Mk 2:20.3
Eileen Wirth meditated on Jesus’ statement about the need to pour “new wine” into “fresh wineskins.” Jesus is inviting us to a new life (i.e. new wine) but warning us that it will only work if we exchange our old “wineskin” (bad habits/lifestyle problems) for new. And that is challenging. Our question today is how we can conquer our favorite faults.
In terms of how to live today’s gospel, I’m picturing a glass of wine and a new wineskin small enough to hold its contents. After examining my life, I’ve decided to try to combat my bad habit of complaining about people who annoy me by making one less uncharitable remark a day. I still get to complain – just not as much. I can fill one small wineskin a day with new wine, sort of like skipping chocolate at lunch but eating a handful of M&M’s after dinner
By the end of the year, that will be 365 fewer cutting remarks and hopefully progress in fighting a bad habit – in other words, quite a bit of new wine poured into new wineskins. Jesus knows our limits and. I’m guessing he’s fine with small steps toward creating new wineskins.4
Don Schwager quotes “The presence of the Bridegroom,” by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"From the time that the incarnation of our Savior was first promised to the patriarchs, it was always awaited by many upright souls with tears and mourning - until he came. From that time when, after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven, all the hope of the saints hangs upon his return. It was at the time when he was keeping company with humanity that his presence was to be celebrated. Then it would have been unfitting to weep and mourn. For like the bride, she had him with her bodily whom she loved spiritually. Therefore the bridegroom is Christ, the bride is the church, and the friends of the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15, Luke 5:34) and of the marriage are each and every one of his faithful companions. The time of his marriage is that time when, through the mystery of the incarnation, he is joining the holy church to himself (Revelation 19:7). Thus it was not by chance, but for the sake of a certain mystical meaning that he came to a marriage ceremony on earth in the customary fleshly way (John 2:1-12), since he descended from heaven to earth in order to wed the church to himself in spiritual love. His nuptial chamber was the womb of his virgin mother. There God was conjoined with human nature. From there he came forth like a bridegroom to join the church to himself." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.14)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 2:18-22 asks do the dependable boundaries surrounding our lives hide or even stifle the vibrant life of Christ that we received in Baptism?
These and many other, smaller examples can give you a glimpse of the “new wine” of the Holy Spirit (Mark 2:22)—the vibrant, vital life that has been poured into your own heart. The opportunities to stretch and allow that life to flow from you and bless the people around you are endless. Think of how this might be already happening in your life. Then dare to ask God what new thing he may want to do through you this week. Ask him to show you how you can stretch enough to cooperate with him.
“Holy Spirit, expand my heart and my vision to make more room for the new life you have given me.”6
Friar Jude Winkler fleshes out the disobedience for which Samuel rebukes Saul. The wedding-feast of Jesus presence when ended invites the fast of mourning. Friar Jude finds some rabbinic midrash technique in the Gospel passage addressing old and new.
Nicholas King SJ uses the references to fasting in the New Testament to put this particular Lenten observance into perspective. ‘The strength of fasting is that, if we get it right, it turns us in the direction of God.’ When you look to the New Testament, it is rather striking that fasting is not very much mentioned. This is, he suspects, because resurrection is at the heart of the New Testament, the very foundation of all Christian faith. If God has finally intervened on behalf of his people in Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, then all those other reasons – mourning, petition and repentance – have lost their urgency.
In all three accounts, the answer that Jesus’s accusers get to their original question is in terms of a ‘wedding-feast’, a favourite image in the New Testament for the new dispensation that Jesus has inaugurated. The episode leads into the parable about not putting ‘an unshrunk patch onto an old garment’, and about putting new wine into new flasks. This is then followed, in Mark and Luke, by the story of Jesus’s disciples breaking the Sabbath by plucking ears of corn, which provokes the memorable response from Jesus that, ‘the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath also’. So the point is that the serious-minded, religious people (‘sourpusses’, in Pope Francis’ happy phrase) have got it wrong, and failed to appreciate the radical novelty of Jesus. In Matthew, the parables are followed by briefer versions of two Marcan stories: the ruler whose daughter has just died and the woman with the haemorrhage. In both cases, Jesus easily heals what is amiss; once again, therefore, the point is that Jesus is something completely different, and that therefore fasting is not an appropriate response to him. One, perhaps important, difference in Matthew is that instead of ‘fast’ the verb is changed once to ‘mourn’; and all three accounts recognise that there will come a time when it will be appropriate to fast, namely when Jesus, seen as ‘the bridegroom’, is ‘taken away from them’.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, advises that even though he deeply admires the Desert Fathers and Mothers... There is much about them that he does not find attractive or helpful… Contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber offers a helpful distinction between stages and states. [1] Your stage is your outer awareness. Your state is your inner aliveness. The goal is to be both holy and whole, saintly and wise. But your state and stage don’t always coincide; many of us are stronger in one area than another.
This describes many Desert Fathers and Mothers: having high states of union but by today’s standards low levels of cultural, historic, or intellectual exposure to coherent thinking. Enjoy them for their state, but do not hate them for their stage! Today we have large segments of the population with the opposite problem: high stages of intellectual exposure with very low levels of unitive consciousness—very smart but without awe, humility, or love, which the Desert Fathers and Mothers had in spades!
Many of the desert sayings may sound naïve, simplistic, and even dangerous, but try to receive the simple wisdom of the desert mystics with an open heart and mind in the coming days and let it lead you to authentic joy. Perceive and enjoy their state of loving union; don’t dismiss them for living in a pre-rational society. Perhaps holding this tension compassionately for them will help us do the same for people in our own time.8
Our ego often tends to raise our sense of self righteousness. Contemplating our areas of separation from truth, beauty and goodness draws us back to seeking the life offered with the Bridegroom.
References
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